Holy see News

Rome - 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi was kidnapped in 1983. And now in a controversial statement, Father Gabriele Amorth has claimed that the girl's kidnapping was a "crime of a sexual nature."

Chicago - Charles Anderson, 60, a man serving prison term for armed robbery at the Shawnee Correctional Center, Illinois, has filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Holy See, alleging priest child sex abuse in the 1960s.

Pope Benedict XVI continues his visit to Spain this weekend amid protests at the enormous cost – over €50 million, or about $73 million – his visit has notched up.

Wednesday’s publication by the Vatican of files concerning a case of a priest accused of sexually abusing children has been denounced by a victim support group as a “last-minute ploy.”

Today, we have seen a revelation that the future Pope Benedict XVI put the good of the Catholic Church before pleas to defrock a priest with a history of child molestation, according to a 1985 letter bearing his signature.

Fifty protesters from humanist, secular, women’s and gay organizations have accused Pope Benedict of “covering up child sex abuse by Catholic clergy”.